Originally Posted by
iahphx
Obviously, the alliance members need to get together and revisit the perks to include this very modest (but important) benefit. The problem is that the alliances are very weak now, so I'm sure nobody is in any rush to improve the benefits.
Not sure what the rationale would be to let Star Alliance gold to pick seats for free if they don't even let their own FFs, even higher status than gold have that benefit.
BTW it's not just AC. LH does the same. BA I believe don't even allow advance seats assignments in business class.
Yes, this negative fare differentiation stinks. But when people use search engine for lowest fares and buy for even $0.50 difference, it's unavoidable. I don't think AC was an early adapter, but they joined the game with gusto eventually.